The present invention relates to a storage compartment, and, more particularly, to a storage compartment for a motor vehicle having a receptacle with a bottom well lowerable relative to an access opening situated at a front portion.
German Patent Specification 1,455,750 shows a storage compartment which is composed of a pot-shaped pressing made of hardboard. The pressing is fastened to a mask, which in turn is screwed to a facia panel. In order to increase the capacity of the storage compartment, it is customary for the bottom well to be made lower than an access opening situated at the front.
This known receptacle construction gives rise, however, to a problem that the storage compartment, which is now angular, can no longer be fitted without resistance by the boundary edges, matching the access opening, of the storage cavity provided in, for example, a motor vehicle facia panel.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, of providing a large-capacity storage compartment that can be easily inserted through an opening of a cavity which is to receive the storage compartment.
The foregoing object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention by constructing the receptacle with a carrier body into which the bottom well can be detachably inserted and with upright side wall parts extending beyond and formed on the bottom well so that, when upright, the side wall parts prevent the bottom wall from being removed from the carrier body yet can also be folded in against the bottom well.
The storage compartment in accordance with the present invention has a large capacity and nevertheless fits, without further installation measures, through an opening which is provided in the cavity receiving the receptacle (for example in a facia panel), which cavity has a height lower than the total height of the receptacle. The bottom well can be pivotally suspended by a wall part from the carrier body and can then be swivelled into the carrier body when the side wall parts have been folded in, so that the height of the receptacle for installation purposes is far smaller than its height in the installed position after the bottom well has again been lowered.
The side wall parts, when thereupon raised again, bear against the edges of the carrier body which lay above them, thus preventing the bottom well from rattling or spontaneously pivoting up into the carrier body. Furthermore, the bottom well may additionally be secured by projecting catches to the carrier body or also in the cavity fastened to the vehicle for receiving the receptacle.
A visually advantageous attachment of the folding side walls to the bottom well consists in joining them to the bottom well by means of a film hinge-like reduction of material on the outside, so that the side wall parts, viewed from the interior of the storage compartment, are joined to the bottom well by a smooth surface and can even carry an internal decoration shared with the bottom well, so that no further visual masking means are required.